A hot New York internet start-up that counts Virgin founder
Richard Branson
among its early investors is rolling out a trial of its core education product in an unusual location – the elite Haileybury College in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.

The company is Codecademy, which wants to teach the world to code – or how to write computer software.

It is the brainchild of American entrepreneurs Zach Sims and Ryan Bubinski, who founded it in 2011 and attracted thousands of users, as well as venture capitalists keen to buy into the business.

“We were fortunate enough to launch and to welcome hundreds of thousands of new users almost immediately," Sims says. “Obviously we were very excited about the potential of having Richard’s help with branding, given his experience creating one of the most iconic brands in the world."

He is bearish on the prospects for those non-fluent in code.

“Computers are quickly becoming part of everything we do. We carry them around in our pockets, play with them on our couches, and work with them on our desks," he says. “Journalists need to know how to tweak HTML and CSS, scientists need to know Python to crunch data, stockbrokers need to know how algorithms work on Wall Street. Algorithmic competency is a new way of understanding the way the world works, and people who don’t know algorithms and programming are a step behind."

The company is trialling its project in New York, but also in Melbourne. Haileybury principal Derek Scott will run the program as an extracurricular club, and believes it will have broader appeal than a maths club or chess club.

“This can become a cool area, because if you can create interesting apps and if you can create interesting things that are going to be used on smartphones . . . you become part of a cool group who are doing interesting things," he says.

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Staff will also be taking the Codecademy course, but Scott sees a future where students are the most digitally capable.

“We have our own apps that we designed but I see the future being the students will design them for us."

The link to Haileybury is Codecademy’s first employee, Leng Lee. An Australian Rhodes scholar living in New York, Lee was a Haileybury student.

Lateral Economics chief executive Nicholas Gruen is also a fan.

“I happened upon it when searching for education 2.0 sites and have subsequently spruiked it in presentations and to people in education when I speak with them," he says. “I love the way in which it’s teaching you even before you know that it is, and even while playing around."